ALT Agorà ⑤ – June 17 – Register Now!
Join us for the fifth ALT Agorà, the monthly free professional development event for ALTs.
Come watch June’s spotlight speaker and choose your themed breakout room to engage with other ALTs in a professional and friendly environment.
As always, the event is free and open to all!
Event: ALT Agorà ⑤
When: June 17, 2021 @7:30pm JST (60 min)
Where: Zoom CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
***please update your Zoom software to the latest version**
How to join: the link will be sent to the specified email address by the afternoon on the day of the event.
Follow us on FB: https://facebook.com/altagora
This month join us to talk about the following topics!
SPOTLIGHT: Native-speakerism and English as a Lingua Franca (Part 1)
Robert J. Lowe (Tokyo Kasei University)
Native-speakerism is an ideology that impacts all language teachers, and is strongly connected to the models of English we teach, and the skills we focus on in class. In this session, the speaker will first give some background on native-speakerism, before sketching an alternative way of doing things through teaching English as a Lingua Franca. Teachers will then be invited to share their experiences of the former, and discuss ideas of how they could introduce the latter in their classrooms.
Room 1: Native-speakerism and English as a Lingua Franca (Part 2)
Speaker: Robert J. Lowe (Tokyo Kasei University)
Native-speakerism is an ideology that impacts all language teachers, and is strongly connected to the models of English we teach, and the skills we focus on in class. In this session, the speaker will first give some background on native-speakerism, before sketching an alternative way of doing things through teaching English as a Lingua Franca. Teachers will then be invited to share their experiences of the former, and discuss ideas of how they could introduce the latter in their classrooms.
Room 2: Fluency in the Classroom
Speaker: José Domingo Cruz (Kitakyushu University)
All teachers want their students to achieve higher levels of fluency, but how to teach it, and which classroom methods actually work? Cruz will provide some food for thought on this topic, and then will be happy to discuss any ideas and questions in the Breakout Room.
Room 3: Part 2: Textbook + Creativity = Happy Students!
Speaker: Gretchen Clark (Kyoto Notre Dame University)
In this follow-up session, the presenter will draw on the four principles outlined in Part 1 (timing, groupings, movement, and teacher role), add a fifth, personalization, to facilitate a workshop about how to re-envision textbook topics and lessons for maximum student engagement. Attendees are encouraged to bring the textbooks they are currently using and presenter and attendees will discuss options for fun supplementary activities.
Room 4: Design Thinking in the Classroom – Part 2
Speaker: Rishma Hansil (Tokyo JET Prefectural Advisor)
If you missed part 1, don’t worry. Design thinking focuses on a multidisciplinary approach to lesson planning and activity design. We’ll continue our discussion on designing lessons around empathy and intercultural communication.
The speakers that will join us for this event are:
Robert J. Lowe (Tokyo Kasei University)
Robert J. Lowe is a lecturer in the Department of English Communication, Tokyo Kasei University. He is co-author of ‘Teaching English as a Lingua Franca’ (DELTA Publishing, 2018), co-editor of ‘Duoethnography in English Language Teaching’ (Multilingual Matters, 2020), and author of the monograph ‘Uncovering Ideology in English Language Teaching’ (Springer, 2020). He has published papers in numerous journals, including Language Teaching, ELT Journal, and Language, Culture and Curriculum. He is also a co-host of The TEFLology Podcast.
Gretchen Clark (Kyoto Notre Dame University)
Gretchen Clark is currently an assistant professor of English at Kyoto Notre Dame University in Kyoto, Japan. She has lived and taught English in various capacities in the Kansai region of Japan for over 20 years. Her research interests include ELT pedagogy, NeuroELT and how social justice and critical thinking operate within language teaching.
Jose Domingo Cruz (Kitakyushu University)
José Domingo Cruz works on several English study projects, including his main venture, “GOLDFish365”. Cruz is the author of the soon to be published, “ZOOM for Educators”. He helped create the protocols for and led the team of volunteer Room Hosts that guided the presentations (The Fire Station) during the PANSig and JALT National conferences of 2020. Cruz is a leading member of Online Teaching Japan, where he and David Juteau host the weekly broadcast of “OTJtv”. Cruz is from Canada, and is a veteran university instructor and Japan resident, specializing in fluency instruction and authentic materials creation.
Rishma Hansil (Tokyo JET Prefectural Advisor)
JET Prefectural Advisor (Tokyo), Author and Illustrator of “Animal Adventure” book for young learners and Assistant Language Teacher specializing in Educational Technology.
Nicholas J. Wilson
Nicholas J. Wilson is an elementary and junior high school English teacher and curriculum developer fostering students’ digital literacy through foreign language education. He is a Level 1 & 2 Google Certified Educator and Level 1 Adobe Creative Educator in charge of supporting the professional development of English and Japanese teachers as a mentor, area leader, and member of the local board of education’s Digital Transformation Committee. His current research focuses on exploring the potential of the metaverse as a learning environment. He is also an active JALT officer involved in planning, promoting, and coordinating regional events and national conferences, and the founder and organizer of ALT Agorà, a series of monthly webinars designed for assistant language teachers, part of the ALT Training Online grassroots initiative.
